MISSOULA — The quest to return to Frisco officially begins on Saturday evening at Washington-Grizzly Stadium, as the third-ranked Montana Grizzlies welcome the Missouri State Bears to town to officially kick off their season.
The first-week jitters are about to cease with Saturday night lights, as all the questions surrounding UM's squad will begin to be answered come kickoff in front of what should be a loud crowd with a blackout theme.Game time is slated for 7 p.m., and the Montana Television Network will be carrying the broadcast across the state.
"It's the first game. Obviously, we're excited to be in game week," Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said during his weekly press conference. "As the head coach and our staff, we're always concerned that we won't be ready to execute at a high level. That's just the way it is with first games, we try to be prepared, and we'll prepare right up till kickoff to try to get that done."
With a loaded offense returning and plenty of new faces on defense, this Griz squad sports many resemblances from last year, but also numerous areas that are new-look.
After a tough training camp, now they're ready to show it in a real game.
"I think we do those things right around here, we always have a tough camp," senior cornerback Trevin Gradney said. "I haven't been in a camp that hasn't been tough. So, yeah, it's just builds us, builds a tough team."
"I'm excited. I think everyone's excited," senior right tackle Brandon Casey added. "We haven't played anyone else other than ourselves since January, and we're all ready."
Their first opponent will be a new one in Missouri State as these programs meet for the first time.
The Bears went 4-7 last season under first-year head coach Ryan Beard in the rugged Missouri Valley Football Conference.
They opened the season with 11 players receiving varying degrees of preseason all-conference honors, five of whom were all-league picks a year ago. As a unit, they return 20 starters from last year's team.
It's also Missouri State's final season at the FCS level as the Bears will transition to the FBS next year. They are ineligible for the playoffs because of that, and a future meeting between UM and Missouri State in 2026 was canceled.
"They have many returning starters," Hauck said. "And I always think that veteran football teams are good football teams, so they're very veteran, so I know that this will be a major challenge this weekend. I really think at the end of October, we'll see them as a contender in the Missouri Valley."
It's a good challenge out of the gate for both teams. For Montana, its quest to repeat the magic of last season begins now as it hopes for a return trip to the FCS championship game in Frisco, Texas.
"We've got our hands full Saturday," Hauck said. "We don't know what they've changed or adapted. We know what we've seen, and we're just excited to play this weekend."
